Rural Broadband

The Government is ensuring that rural New Zealanders enjoy the benefits of faster, better internet through the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).

Providing improved internet to rural areas has many significant economic benefits, while also giving rural New Zealanders access to online health and educational services.

Improved internet is helping farmers gather data and use it to farm smarter and more competitively.

For many rural New Zealanders, upgraded internet is already available, but the government has recently extended the RBI to even more rural locations.

The RBI uses fibre optic and cellular technology to delivery varying speeds. Because Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) isn't feasible for every rural community, peak broadband speeds of at least 5Mbps (megabits per second) is being provided to more than 90% of homes and businesses outside UFB areas.